625 Detained in France's School Riots as Mélenchon Calls It a Crackdown
October 1, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
French security forces detained 625 people on Wednesday as school blockades spread to 356 lycées nationwide. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed 83 police and gendarmes were wounded the same day.
625 people were detained in France on Wednesday as security forces moved against school blockades that had spread from Paris to Bordeaux, Lyon and Lille, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed. The figure covers a single day of action at 356 secondary schools across the country.
The detentions followed a week of escalating unrest at lycées, attended by students aged 15 to 18. The original grievances were concrete: overcrowded classes, teacher shortages, poor learning materials and overheated classrooms during this year's heatwaves. A 17-year-old student identified as Fadila told Reuters there were "cockroaches and rats everywhere in the school" and that classroom temperatures swung from sweltering to below freezing.
By Wednesday the protests had moved well beyond peaceful blockades. Nunez listed "the targeting of law enforcement officers, the throwing of projectiles, acts of violence, verbal abuse, attempted arson, and what amounts to urban violence." Eighty-three police officers and gendarmes were wounded that day alone. Since the unrest began the previous week, 119 students and staff had been injured, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said, adding that 34 of those were staff, which he called "unprecedented in national education."
The police were not the only ones under scrutiny. Euronews reported that three separate internal investigations were opened after students were wounded during blockades at Sevran, Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône and Tours, where one young man was hospitalised after being struck in the head.
Speaking from Madrid, President Emmanuel Macron said the students' concerns were legitimate but "could in no way justify violence and attacks on police officers and teachers." He accused hard-left politicians of "legitimising violence" and said elected officials were "not there to stir fears and push people to commit the worst." Nunez alleged that agitators moved from school to school to incite students; both he and Macron accused far-left groups of inciting violence during the protests.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise and presidential candidate, offered a different account. On Monday he accused the government of carrying out a "crackdown" with "obvious racist undertones" and wrote "Hands off our youth!" on social media, urging party activists to support the protests wherever possible. By Wednesday, Euronews reported, he accused Macron of approving "police violence he ordered against young people," while his party simultaneously called for "non-violence in methods of struggle."
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called the racism charge "an insult" and accused Mélenchon of "racializing a debate about student security and adding to division where a responsible politician should be looking to restore calm." The government announced it would open a consultation platform on Monday to which "all secondary school students can contribute."
The platform may come too late to matter. In Île-de-France alone, 75 lycées were disrupted on Wednesday and 36 were described by regional authorities as "theaters of violence, clashes and vandalism," Euronews reported. The main student union announced it would maintain pressure regardless.
Published October 1, 2026 · Frisian News